Gas turbine engines generally have a plurality of axially aligned components including a fan, a compressor section, a combustor, and a turbine section. The fan, positioned at a forward end of the engine, rotates to draw in and pressurize ambient air. The pressurized air flows to the compressor section, as a core flow, where the air is compressed further and then flows to the combustor. At the combustor, the compressed air is mixed with fuel and combusted to form an exhaust. The exhaust expands from the combustor through the turbine section, causing rotors of the turbine section to rotate, and then flows out of the engine at an aft end of the engine. The rotation of the turbine rotors drive the rotation of the fan and rotors of the compressor section by way of a shaft, or a plurality of concentrically mounted shafts in the case of a multi-spool engine.
The fan typically includes a rotor disk and a plurality of blades extending radially outward from the rotor disk. Each of the blades typically has a root that is positioned within a root cavity of the rotor disk that prevents the blades from disengaging from the rotor disk during operation of the fan. However, centrifugal forces on the blades cause the root to chafe against the rotor disk. This chafing is typically mitigated by applying a lubricant to the affected surfaces. To accomplish this using prior art methods, each blade must be disengaged from the rotor disk, the lubricant can then be applied, and then the blades can be re-assembled with the rotor disk. Once the blades are reengaged with the rotor disk the fan must be tested which entails running the engine up to operational speeds to determine if the blades were reinstalled correctly. This may require the engine and associated aircraft to be moved due to space or noise constraints. If the blades were incorrectly installed then the fan may need to be disassembled and then reassembled in the correct manner. This process is time consuming and exposes the blades and rotor disk to potential damage due to incorrect reassembly or mis-handling of the engine components. Therefore, a new method for lubricating the root and root cavity of the fan without disassembling the fan is needed.